In European culture, the lion is called the king of animals. In Asia, since ancient times, the cult of the tiger has developed - a strong, fearless and fierce animal, commanding all representatives of the animal kingdom. Accordingly, the tiger is considered a symbol of the monarch's omnipotence and military valor.
Despite all the respect for striped predators, Asian peoples, not without the effective help of Europeans, have been very successful in exterminating tigers, reducing their number to several thousand. But even having remained in an extremely small amount to preserve the population, tigers did not become less dangerous. Attacks on people are not a thing of the past at all, they just become fewer. Such is the paradox: people have completely banned the hunt for tigers, and tigers continue to hunt people. Let's take a closer look at the Asian version of the king of beasts:
1. Tigers, jaguars, leopards and lions together make up the genus of panthers. And panthers do not exist as a separate species - they are simply black individuals, most often jaguars or leopards.
2. All four representatives of the panther genus are very similar, but tigers appeared before all. It was over 2 million years ago.
3. The weight of the tiger can reach 320 kg. According to this indicator, the tiger is second only to bears among predators.
4. Stripes on the skin of a tiger are similar to papillary lines on human fingers - they are purely individual and do not repeat in other individuals. If the tiger is shaved bald, the coat will grow back in the same pattern.
5. Tigers are unpretentious to natural conditions - they can live in the tropics and savannah, in the northern taiga and semi-desert, on the plain and in the mountains. But now tigers live only in Asia.
6. There are six species of living tigers, three extinct and two fossils.
7. The main enemy of tigers is man. For two million years, tigers have bred in not the most favorable natural conditions, but collisions with humans may not survive. First, tigers were destroyed by hunters, then tigers began to disappear due to changes in the natural environment. For example, in Indonesia, only on the island of Borneo, 2 hectares of forest are cut down every minute. Tigers (and their food) simply have nowhere to live, because a female needs 20 sq. km., and the male - from 60. Now tigers are close to extinction - there are only a few thousand of them for all six species.
8. Tigers easily interbreed with lions, and the offspring depends on the gender of the parents. If a lion acts as a father, the offspring grows into three-meter terrifying giants. They are called ligers. Two ligers live in Russian zoos - in Novosibirsk and Lipetsk. The offspring of a father-tiger (tiger or taigon) are always smaller than their parents. Females of both species can produce offspring.
This is a liger
And this is tigrolev
9. In addition to the usual yellow-black color, tigers can be gold, white, smoky black or smoky blue. All shades are the result of mutations after crossing different types of tigers.
10. White tigers are not albinos. This is evidenced by the presence of black stripes on the wool.
11. All tigers swim well, regardless of the temperature of the water, and those living in the south also regularly arrange water procedures.
12. Tigers do not have married couples - the male's business is limited to conception.
13. In about 100 days the female bears 2 - 4 cubs, which she brings up independently. Any male, including the father, can easily eat the cubs, so sometimes the female has a hard time.
14. Tiger hunting is a long stay in ambush or crawling to the victim and a lightning-fast lethal throw. Tigers do not lead long pursuits, but during an attack they can reach speeds of up to 60 km / h and jump 10 meters.
15. The power of the jaws and the size of the teeth (up to 8 cm) allow tigers to inflict fatal injuries on victims with almost one blow.
16. Despite all the caution, swiftness and power of the predator, a small proportion of attacks ends successfully - animals in tiger habitats are very cautious and timid. Therefore, having caught prey, the tiger can immediately eat 20 - 30 kg of meat.
17. The stories of tigers becoming man-eaters after they have tasted human flesh seem to be exaggerated, but man-eating tigers exist, and some of them have a sad account of dozens of people. Most likely, man-eating tigers are attracted to humans by relative slowness and weakness.
18. The loud roar of a tiger is communication with fellow tribesmen or a female. Be wary of the desired low, barely audible growl. It talks about preparing for an attack. Some scientists believe that it even has a paralyzing effect on small animals.
19. Despite the fact that tigers are predatory animals, they gladly eat plant foods, especially fruits, to replenish their vitamin reserves.
20. The average bear is usually larger than the average tiger, but the striped predator is almost always the winner in the fight. The tiger can even imitate a bear growl for bait.
21. We hunted tigers from time immemorial - even Alexander the Great valiantly destroyed predators with darts.
22. Tigers live in the most populous part of the planet, so they did sometimes turn into a disaster. In Korea and China, tiger hunters were a highly privileged segment of society. Later, striped predators were actively destroyed by the British colonialists on the territory of present-day India, Burma and Pakistan. For the hunters, the fact of victory over the formidable animal was important - neither the meat nor the skin of the tiger have any commercial value. Only a tiger skin by the fireplace or a scarecrow in the lobby of a British castle are valuable.
23. In the early 21st century, British hunter Jim Corbett killed 19 man-eating tigers and 14 leopards in 21 years. According to his theory, tigers became man-eaters as a result of injuries received from unlucky hunters.
Jim Corbett with another cannibal
24. In the United States alone, up to 12,000 tigers live as pets in families. At the same time, only 31 states are allowed to keep domestic tigers.
25. The Chinese believe in the healing effect on the human body of drugs made from absolutely all organs and parts of the tiger, including even the mustache. The authorities are fighting hard against such incentives for killing tigers: any “tiger” medicine is prohibited, and tiger hunting is punishable by execution.
